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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A
lot can be learnt by and from companies that come back from the dead (well,
almost). General Motors is one such company. It has been in a hole and is
trying to claw back. And early signs are good.

While
reading (and watching) Terry Woychowski, GM’s new vice president of global
quality, speak to ASQ on GM’s three Ps: Promise, Personal, and
Performance, I was surprised to see how clear the messaging was.Clarity of purpose was one of Deming’s
favorite principles and I could see it in action as Terry spoke.

Is
GM out of trouble? Not yet.Can we learn
from it? Plenty, I think.

First
and foremost. I loved the clarity of Promise, Personal, and Performance. Laurel
Nelson-Rowe of ASQ says, rightly, that this could be a fourth P: Pointing.
Pointing the company in the right direction. Consistently.

Terry
says, and I am hoping GM believes, that customers trade their hard earned money
with us for a promise – that our product will work.Big deal. Everyone says this. I was very
impressed with what he said next. Product promise is to deliver state and
implied needs AND anything else that a rational mind would expect from a
car.Wow!

Terry
then quoted H J Heinz (of Heinz) having once said “Quality is to a product as
character is to a person”. Profound. Quality of products is a reflection of the
character of the of its employees (though I think it is more a reflection of its
management, but well said Terry.

The
defining statement in the interview was when Terry announced that “There are no
spectators in the Quality journey”.This
reminded me of a similar observation by Suresh Krishna, CMD of TVS Fasteners
(Deming Prize winner) about their quality journey.What he said amounted to – “I will try and
convince you to join the journey, but if you don’t or cant, bad luck. Please
get off the train or I will push you.”

Change is not and should not be very democratic.

How
do we know the quality journey at GM is working? They don’t have much to show
yet but are doing the right things for sure. Warranty is down 50%. They are
using the right quality methods such as DFMEA and DFSS in the design
phase.Cherry on the cake – Head of
Quality calls two customers every week and ask if their service issue was resolved
properly. I was at Qimpro (www.qimpro.com)
when we used to advise CXOs to call customers. Some listened. Others did not. But
I can assure you the effect of such calls is magical.Of course, you have to back it up with
performance.

The
new GM is also speaking what investors like.It is as if GM had forgotten that there is a customer and investor that
actually run the company.Terry spoke
about a new board member who joined them recently (2010).This board member narrated the story of his
GM car breaking down in the 1980s!!! 30 yrs down the line he remembered every
detail of the breakdown. That’s the impact of poor quality.

GM
has actually done fairly well in India. And it is doing even better these
days.Watching Terry talk I got some
hint why.He spoke about quality
surprises and mentioned the speed bumps in India.Now this is a familiar grouse and I thought
here is another ‘global professional’ admonishing Indian roads.NO. Terry talked about how GM changed its
design to suit Indian roads.To me, that’s
quality. Full marks, GM.

GM
has dreams of being no.1 quality vehicle maker in every market, every segment
it operates in.Initial signs are good.
All the best Terry and co.

What
are some quick lessons we can draw from the new GM.

1.Clarity always helps

If you want
people to work for a purpose, please clarity to them what they are working for.
By clearly saying GM wants to design, build, and sell the world’s best
vehicles, GM has just done that.

2.Have a Dream

You are
never going to excite and earn people’s hard work with boring goals.Jim Collins said have a BHAG (Big Hairy
Audacious Goal).GM has done something
similar.Even if you fail you do pretty
well chasing the dream.

3.Have a Plan to achieve the Dream

Having a
dream is not enough.Build a detailed
plan to achieve the dream. But don’t get lost in the details.Keep spaces for changes.

4.Execute the Plan

Put your
head down and execute. No one ever won in the marketplace for having a great
plan. You win by execution.

5.Customer Satisfaction is the only metric that
matters.

Finally,
have internal metrics but remember that the only metric that matters is how
many customers are satisfied with you.And
how much? Are they voting with their money?

Do
you have to be GM to follow these principles? No. You can be a department or
any other company and these will work well for you. I hope they do. If you follow these suggestions, and have a
story to tell, let me know. All the
best.